Avantia Academy - Junior Legal Opportunities

at  Avantia Law

SUMMARY

Avantia Law is looking to hire bright and entrepreneurial graduates through its Avantia Academy programme. Avantia Academy will take a cohort of outstanding graduates and put its students through a “legal bootcamp” – students will be instructed in drafting, commercial awareness and other important legal skills. Currently the programme is in Beta Stage and Avantia Academy will be a singular day, similar to an assessment centre (but much more informative, relaxed and enjoyable!) The best graduates of the programme will have an opportunity to be hired by Avantia Law as junior legal staff. Eventually, the firm intends to expand Avantia Academy to a two week programme. Upon completion, graduates will either come work for Avantia Law, or be placed externally by Avantia with our clients or other legal service providers.

Avantia Academy is now accepting students for its third cohort – there are sixteen Academy places available and four roles currently on offer:

• Document Review Paralegal
• Funds Paralegal x 2
• KYC Operations Assistant

If you pass the programme but are not selected for one of the current roles, we may shortlist you for when another role becomes available - many Academy graduates get a call from us after the initial assessment day. Out of the ten students who attended our last Academy, five were directly hired into Avantia Law either straight away, or in the subsequent weeks. Avantia Academy is a great place to kickstart your legal career after the completion of your formal studies.

THE ROLES ON OFFER

1) Document Review Paralegal – These paralegals will work with routine documents such as non-disclosure agreements, non-reliance letters, and engagement letters. Paralegals learn under the instruction of our lawyers, many of whom are former American/Magic Circle/Silver Circle lawyers. They track documents throughout their life cycle, draft first markups, negotiate with counterparties, manage inboxes, and more – the best paralegals often run accounts themselves nearly autonomously, only consulting with lawyers for signoff or unique/difficult questions and situations.
2) KYC Analyst – Please note that while we are not currently hiring for this role, we hire for this position very frequently and you might have the opportunity to join as a KYC Analyst in the weeks following the Academy. Our KYC team “work like detectives” to uncover any potential threats to our clients prior to the completion of a transaction. They scan counterparty documents, look for suspicious activity and note any politically exposed persons. They examine the corporate structures of counterparties, identify UBOs, and outline potential risks in legal memos. This role is excellent for building commercial awareness.
3) Funds Paralegal - Funds is Avantia’s newest workstream, with a focus on LP transfers. The paralegals who join this department will become keystone employees with the chance to shape the department going forward under the supervision of an experienced Funds lawyer. Duties will include sending out standard email templates, chasing clients and third parties for inputs, and plugging information into transfer documents.
4) KYC Operations Assistant - this is a very special opportunity for a junior professional to assist the head of our rapidly expanding KYC department with operations and day-to-day running of the department. If you are someone who found law interesting and may be seeking to work in or around law, but have reservations about becoming a lawyer, this is the role for you. This individual will be entrepreneurial, inventive, and eager to help the head of the department expand the business - this person should also be structured, organised and adaptable. Avantia Law has a very entrepreneurial culture - it has grown from five members of staff in 2019 to over eighty members of staff today; the founder of the Avantia Academy initiative was one of those first five employees and was a recent law graduate when she joined. This is your opportunity to fill a similar role and to grow an aspect of the business from the ground up.

Avantia Academy is now accepting students for its third cohort – there are sixteen Academy places available and four roles currently on offer:

• Document Review Paralegal
• Funds Paralegal x 2
• KYC Operations Assistan